What you'll need

1) A Freezer: This one should be obvious, but you'll need a freezer. The one attached to your refrigerator is good enough.

2) A Rack: A simple cookie sheet will work for this, but it'll take longer for the process to finish. I recommend that you get a perforated drying rack as bakers use. The increased airflow will dramatically reduce how long it takes to freeze-dry something.

3) Some Food: You can freeze dry just about anything. Meat, fruits, vegetables, and even ice cream can be freeze-dried. However, it can be difficult to dry most of those when you're just starting out. I recommend that you try to dry something simple. Start with an apple or other small fruit.

4) A knife: This method works best if you cut the food into small pieces first. This is the slowest drying method of the three, and drying whole apples or steaks make the wait even worse.

5) Storage Bags: You won't need these until the drying process is complete, but they're essential. You'll be able to take your dried food, seal it in a Ziplock, and throw it in your survival pack with ease.

step-by-step instructions

Prepare The Food

​To begin, you'll want to slice up whatever you're going to dry.

Try to slice the food into the smallest pieces that you can manage.

Bigger pieces will take a lot longer to dry with this method, and you're likely to end up thawing them way before they're actually finished.

That effectively ruins all of your hard work.

Place Them On A Rack

This step is straightforward.

All you have to do is throw your food slices onto a rack.

Make sure that you lay the food out in a single layer, and don't try to fill the tray too much.

Freeze It

Now, you have to perform the actual drying process.

Put the tray of food slices into your freezer, and wait for at least a week.

Try not to open your fridge too much during this step.​

You want the temperature in the fridge to stay as cold as possible.

After a week or two, you can start checking your food.

Take a single piece out of the freezer, and allow it to thaw.

If it turns black, then it's not dried, and you need to let it sit in the freezer for a bit longer.

Make sure that you throw out the test sample.

Store It

​​If you can pull your food out without it turning black, you're ready to store it.

You don't need a vacuum sealer for this step, but it will help you out a bit if you do have one.

All you have to do is throw the food into storage bags, remove the air, and seal them up.

After that, you can throw the food into a survival pack or cabinet for later use.

2: using dry ice to dry freeze food

The dry ice method is a lot faster than just using your freezer, but the steps are entirely different.

You'll want to remove all of the food in your freezer before you attempt this method.

What you'll need

1) A Freezer: If you want to freeze-dry something, you need a freezer. That's just common sense, folks. It is worth noting that you need to remove all of the food from your fridge before you use this method. It'll get destroyed if you don't.

2) A Large Container: You need a container that can hold twice the amount of food that you're going to freeze-dry. This can be a foam cooler, Tupperware container, or anything else that will protect the food inside of it.

3) Dry Ice: You can pick this up at your local Walmart and most other major stores. It shouldn't be too expensive. You want to wait to buy it, though. It's not traditional ice, but it will evaporate over time. You really don't want to buy it a week before you start freeze-drying.

4) Storage Bags: Unlike the freezer method, you'll need these during the drying process for this method. They prevent the dry ice from getting on your food.

5) Food: You'll need something to freeze. You don't have to slice it into little bits with this method, though. The dry ice method is a lot faster than just using a freezer, and it won't take much longer to freeze-dry larger pieces of food.

step-by-step instructions

Prep The Food

You don't technically have to slice up your food for this method, but it'll help a lot.

If you use a whole apple for this method, it can end up taking as long as the freezer method, and that is entirely against the point of using the dry ice in the first place.

All you have to do is throw your food into some Ziplocks, and throw the Ziplocks into a large container.

You'll have an easier time with this method if you poke a few ventilation holes in the bowl.

It'll allow the gas to escape correctly, and it'll speed up the drying process.

Add The Dry Ice

​Now, it's time to start the drying process.

Put your container of food into your freezer, and cover it in dry ice.

After you've done that, you just need to wait.

Your food should be adequately dried after all of the dry ice disappears.

That typically only takes between twenty-four hours and a week.

To test your food, do the same thing that you would do with the freezer method.

Remove one piece of food, allow it to thaw, and see if it turns black.

Store It

​Since your dried food is already bagged, all you have to do is remove the air.

Do this by hand, or use a vacuum sealer.

A vacuum isn't necessary, but it is a great convenience.

Once you've done that, you can store the food for years.

3: using a machine to dry freeze food

This is the method that is the simplest to do.

It doesn't require much preparation, and you don't have to constantly worry about your food during the drying process.

What you'll need

1) Freeze-Dryer: This is the most expensive method you can use, and that's because of this requirement. A freeze-dryer is faster than using dry ice, but a typical unit costs more than $1500, and it can take quite a bit of time to earn back your investment in the form of freeze-dried food. If you're going to invest in one of these, make sure you buy a good one.

2) Storage Bags: After your food is frozen, you'll need to have some freezer bags or Ziplocks around to store the food in.

3) Food: This is the same as the other methods. If you haven't freeze-dried anything before, start off with fruit. The high water content will make the process a lot easier.

step-by-step instructions

Prep The Food

​There isn't much prep to do with this method.

Cutting your food into small pieces will make it dry out faster, but it's not necessary.

If you're drying meat, you need to cook it right before you put it in the freeze-dryer. That's about it.

Dry It

Due to the simple nature of freeze-dryers, this step is a lot easier too.

All you have to do is sit the food on one of the shelves inside of your dryer, close the door, and wait.

Store It

​You store your dried food just like you did for the other two methods.

Throw it in a bag, remove the air, and put it in a safe place.

How To Use Freeze-Dried Food

Using freeze-dried food is a little different than throwing together a typical meal, but it isn't difficult.

Open It Up

This sounds self-explanatory, but the steps are different depending on what type of storage bag you used.

A regular freezer bag will be effortless to open.

You just unzip it like you would any other time.

Vacuum-sealed bags can be a bit more difficult.

They're usually too thick to rip open with ease, and they're mechanically sealed most of the time.

However, you're a prepper.

Whip your knife out, and cut it open.

Give It A Little Water

Freeze-drying turns your food into hard chunks, and those chunks are barely edible.

Some foods will stay soft enough to eat while dry, but eating them that way can actually dehydrate you.